Morphological changes in strains of Aspergillus flavus link ex fries and Aspergillus parasiticus speare related with aflatoxin production

Two strains ofAspergillus flavus Linkex Fr. and two strains ofA. parasiticus Speare were cultured on crushed moist wheat (Triticum durum var. Pané no. 247) for aflatoxin production studies in correlation with morphological changes. The toxicogenic strains were adapted to the substratum by means of successive transfers at regular intervals (72 h.)The amount aflatoxins synthesized by the toxicogenic strains decreased gradually after succesive subculturing. The decrease was accompanied by marked morphological changes. One of the strains studied,A. flavus NRRL 3251, lost completly the capacity of aflatoxin synthesis after several subcultures, presenting at the same time strong morphological variations.A. flavus CBS 120.62 also lost its toxicogenicity after six subcultures.     

Retinoblastoma,gross internal malformations,and deletion 13q14→q31

Summary A male patient with an interstitial deletion 13q14q31 is described. Our necropsy findings included a left retinoblastoma and several gross internal malformations. In this paper we reaffirm that band 13q14 is involved in cases of retinoblastoma and we propose, after studying accompanying cases of total or partial long arm trisomies 13, that the loss of specific 13q bands, from 13q14 to 13q31 is responsible for the congenital defects we are describing.     

Immunochemistry of membrane F1-Adenosine triphosphatase fromMicrococcus lysodeikticus. Role of the alpha subunit

The membrane-bound ATPase activity from two substrains ofMicrococcus lysodeikticus, designated as A and B, was inhibited by antibodies raised against the two forms of purified F₁-ATPase. Form B of the enzyme, which behaved as a poorer immunogen than form A, also showed less reactivity as an antigen, independent of the physical state of the F₁-ATPase form. Antibodies were raised against the two major subunits ( and ) isolated fromM. lysodeikticus F₁-ATPase form A, which was the most stable form of the enzyme. Anti-(-subunit) serum strongly inhibited the ATPase activity of membrane-bound ATPase but showed little inhibition of the purified, soluble F₁-ATPase. The anti-(-subunit) serum inhibited the soluble F₁-ATPase, but to a lesser extent than the membrane-bound enzyme. In any event, the effect of anti- antibodies on the membrane-bound ATPase was smaller than that of anti- antibodies. It was postulated that the subunit ofM. lysodeikticus F₁-ATPase plays an essential and regulatory role in the expression of the immunochemical properties of the protein.     

Influence of the alpha-, beta- and gamma-subunits of the energy-transducing adenosine triphosphates from Micrococcus lysodeikticus in the immunochemical properties of the protein and in their reconstitution studied by a radioimmunoassay method.

We developed a sensitive and specific radioimmunoassay of the energy-transducing adenosine triphosphatase (F1-ATPase, EC 3.6.1.3) of Micrococcus lysodeikticus and extended the assay to the alpha-, beta- and gamma-subunits of the enzyme. We isolated these subunits and studied cross-reactions. We found the immunochemical properties of alpha- and beta-subunits to differ, and gamma-subunits showed an intermediate behaviour between that of alpha- and beta-subunits. Our findings indicate that each subunit of M. lysodeikticus F1-ATPase has its own identity and that conformational antigenic determinants and/or co-operative antigenic sites-arise from subunit assembly. Equimolecular amounts of alpha- and beta-subunits (up to three copies of each) reconstituted partially the immunochemical properties of the ATPase molecule, and addition of 2 mol of gamma-subunit per mol of alpha 3 beta 3 complex improved reconstitution. Our findings describe the first reconstitution of biological activity of this ATPase by assembly of the isolated subunits, and provide support for earlier proposals on the stoicheiometry of the alpha 3 beta 3 gamma 2 type for M. lysodeikticus F1-ATPase. The radioimmunoassay method affords opportunities to study the homologies between different energy-transducing ATPases and their constituent polypeptides before the primary structure of these complex proteins has been determined.     

Purification and properties of O-acetyl-L-serine sulphydrylase from wheat leaves

O-Acetyl-L-serine sulphydrylase (OASS), the enzyme which produces L-cysteine from O-acetyl-L-serine (OAS) and sulphide, is     

Biochemical analysis of damage induced in yeast by formaldehyde. I. Induction of single-strand breaks in DNA and their repair.

Analysis of sedimentation profiles in alkaline sucrose gradients showed that, through a metabolic process, formaldehyde (FA) produced single-strand breaks in DNA of exponential phase cells of haploid wild-type Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The production of this type of lesion was dose-dependent. Strains defective in excision-repair of pyrimidine dimers induced by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation showed a reduced capacity to undergo single-stand breaks after treatment with FA. This indicates that the repair pathways of damage induced by UV and FA share a common step. Post-treatment incubation of wild-type cells in growth medium indicate a lag in cell division during which a slow recovery of DNA with a normal size was observed.     

Protein-lipid interactions and differential scanning calorimetric studies of bacteriorhodopsin reconstituted lipid-water systems

Bacteriorhodopsin has been reconstituted at various molar concentrations into liposomes of dimyristoyl- and also of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine. Differential scanning calorimetry indicates that as the protein concentration within the lipid bilayer increases, the cooperativity of the lipid phase transition is reduced, i.e. the transition is broadened, while the midpoint transition temperature remains virtually unchanged. Freeze-fracture electron microscopy of our preparation shows, in agreement with previous data from other laboratories, that extensive protein aggregation occurs when the liposome is cooled below the T_c transition temperature of the lipid. Laser flash photolysis measurements of protein rotation of the bacteriorhodopsin show, especially in the case of protein-rich recombinants, that protein aggregates exist even above T_c. The perturbation caused by the presence of bacteriorhodopsin in the lipid bilayer is similar to that produced by other intrinsic proteins. The difficulty of correlating the observed calorimetric enthalpy data with a simple concept of a ‘boundary lipid layer’ based upon consideration of a single isolated protein is discussed in view of the occurrence of protein aggregates both above and below T_c. It is concluded that the reduction of enthalpy is related to the number of lipids which solvate the protein aggregates within the protein-lipid patches and are thereby removed from the cooperative melting and enthalpy of the remaining regions of pure lipid.     

羧基化多壁碳纳米管、混合盐及其复合胁迫对水稻幼苗生理特性的影响

将水稻（Oryza sativa L.）幼苗悬浮培养于含有羧基化多壁碳纳米管MWCNTs-COOH（0、2.5、5.0、10.0 mg/L）、50 mmol/L混合盐（1NaCl：9Na₂SO₄：9NaHCO₃：1Na₂CO₃）,以及MWCNTs-COOH+混合盐的复合溶液中,10 d后检测叶片生理生化指标变化,研究MWCNTs-COOH复合盐碱胁迫对水稻幼苗的毒性及生态风险。结果显示,与对照组相比,MWCNTs-COOH单一组诱导下水稻叶片O₂^·-和H₂O₂的产生不明显,而混合盐组和混合盐+MWCNTs-COOH复合组均诱导了O₂^·-和H₂O₂产物的大量累积。MWCNTs-COOH与混合盐复合后,加剧了O₂^·-和H₂O₂的累积,并有明显的浓度效应。活性氧（ROS）作为信号分子在一定程度上诱导了各处理组部分抗氧化酶（SOD、CAT、POD、APX）活性的升高;与混合盐组相比,低浓度混合盐+MWCNTs-COOH复合组中叶绿素a和胡萝卜素含量呈一定程度的升高;MWCNTs-COOH与混合盐复合后,抑制了叶片中可溶性糖（SS）和脯氨酸（Pro）的合成,致使相对电导率（REC）和丙二醛（MDA）含量显著升高。上述抗氧化酶活性及叶绿素a和胡萝卜素含量的升高对缓解水稻叶片氧化损伤、维持正常的光合电子传递及对过剩光能的热耗散是有益的,是水稻幼苗重要的防御机制。本研究表明MWCNTs-COOH单一处理在一定程度上诱导了水稻叶片的氧化胁迫和应激响应,与混合盐复合后加剧了叶片的氧化胁迫和应激损伤。     

Dipole moments of random coil polypeptides

The Rotational Isomeric States model is applied to calculate dipole moments of polypeptides of the twenty natural α-amino acids in the random coil state. Dipole moments of each repeat unit (μ_i), are evaluated using a quantum mechanics procedure. Dipole moment ratios ($\text{D}{}_{\mathrm{x}}\text{=}\text{〈μ}{}^2\text{〉}\text{x}\text{μ}{}_{\mathrm{i}}{}^2\text{,}\text{x = number of repeat units}$) of homopolypeptides are calculated and extrapolated to x →?. With a few exceptions, D_? = 0.36 ± 0.1. Ten actual proteins and three enzymes are also studied; their dipole ratios (D_x′ =〈μ〉/x) range from 7.34 to 10.57 in 10^?59 C² m² (6.6–9.5 D²). Diffferences in the values of D_x′ are due mainly to the different contributions, μ_i, of the amino acid residues contained in each polymer, whereas the sequence of amino acids has a very minor effect.